hey guys its el again..couple questions:
what yoga is the best for me to do when im better?ive heard its great but there are so many different ones,im interested in the one that helps keep me in the best condition as i want to be back in the gym so i figure incorporating yoga will keep me from damage(im not there yet but nothing like knowing whats best in advance is there!!!!)
Also is it ok to do strengthening 4 times a week for lower back,im still waiting to do mid back and arm strenghtening since its taking a while to heal,
always appreciate the guidance and advice
El
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I have been battling sciatica going into my 3rd week. Lots of hip pain and back tightness. I too am interested in yoga to strength my back. I just orderd a yoga dvd on the internet called "yoga for a healthy back". I could give you the website if you give me your email address. I understand Dean's not wanting us to post website on this forum, and I respect that. I don't know if this will be good, but the reviews seemed good. The total cost with shipping was less than $18.00. If you want to wait, I will review it myself soon. I am 50 years old and not very flexible so maybe this will help. Look forward to hearing from you and I hope that your back is getting better.

Hey guys,dean if you are reading this could you help me out please!Ive been coming along well but dont know whether im overdoing the stretches,i do all the lower strenghthening excercises four times a week(so evry other day),i do them twice a day....is that too much,will it slow down my progress,it doesnt hurt me??????
also not sure if im ready to move on to the mid back strengthening yet,ive been waiting for my left back to stop hurting and the pain is moving out and into my arm now,its so much better,should i start the mid back strenghthening yet?Also do i do those evryother day on the opposite days to the lower back,i was gonna combine them with the neck strenghtening as i do those on the days that i dont do lower strenghtening(i do all stretches and mobilisation everyday,twice a day)i do decompression everyday too but on the days im not doing lower back strenghtening(ie abs!)i dont do all the decompression excercises!
Lastly i heard yoga helps,i mentioned this to you before and i dont want to start doing it until i feel im fully better but do you know which yoga is the best to do?and when im fully better should i use that as the form of keeping myself supple so that i wont do my self damage in the gym?
A lot of questions i know
Kind regards as evr to you
El
X

Hey guys,dean if you are reading this could you help me out please!Ive been coming along well but dont know whether im overdoing the stretches,i do all the lower strenghthening excercises four times a week(so evry other day),i do them twice a day....is that too much,will it slow down my progress,it doesnt hurt me??????

If you're making progress, I wouldn't change anything, but normally once is enough for the strengthening exercises... not usually a good idea to do them again on the same day. You can stretch as much as you want ... as I say in the books, there's no such thing as stretching too often.

also not sure if im ready to move on to the mid back strengthening yet,ive been waiting for my left back to stop hurting and the pain is moving out and into my arm now,its so much better,should i start the mid back strenghthening yet?

Again, I would say if you're making progress to just wait for the pain to go away completely then start the mid back exercises. If it doesn't go away just from stretching and mobilization exercises then you could try adding the strengthening exercises to see what happens.

I suspect that your mid back pain could be due to muscle imbalances (based on what you've told us in your earlier posts) and if so, then you may actually find that the strengthening exercises correct that problem. In other words, if you're feeling adventuresome... you could just start slowly adding those exercises to your routine and see if they help.

As long as an exercise doesn't hurt while you're doing it ... or cause the problem to get worse instead of better ... there's little chance that it is going to cause you any problems so you can go ahead and start doing it.

Also do i do those evryother day on the opposite days to the lower back,i was gonna combine them with the neck strenghtening as i do those on the days that i dont do lower strenghtening

That sounds fine as long as you are allowing a day or two in there somewhere for rest and recuperation. I know that the exercises in my books are pretty easy, but ideally, you should still try to do your lower back, mid back and neck strengthening exercises on the same day... and then rest completely the next day.

If that seems like too much to do in one day, it is probably because you're trying to do too many of the exercises. It isn't necessary to do all of the exercises each time. Just pick a couple one day ... and a couple different ones the next time.

(i do all stretches and mobilisation everyday,twice a day)i do decompression everyday too but on the days im not doing lower back strenghtening(ie abs!)i dont do all the decompression excercises!

Yes, now these exercises you should do every day ... as often as you can throughout the day ... which doesn't mean you have to do a full exercise session ... it means picking your favorites and anytime you think of it, do a few stretches and maybe a mobilization exercise.

This works especially well with the neck exercises since you can do them almost anywhere any time.

Lastly i heard yoga helps,i mentioned this to you before and i dont want to start doing it until i feel im fully better but do you know which yoga is the best to do?and when im fully better should i use that as the form of keeping myself supple so that i wont do my self damage in the gym?

Yoga is great, but so is Pilates, aerobics, weightlifting, swimming, walking ... I could go on and on. My only advice concerning any of these things is pursue it if it's something that you're genuinely interested in and you think would be fun. All of them are beneficial and can help you improve your back.

As far as which yoga is best? I don't know. I don't do yoga, so I can't really answer that. I'm sure most places allow you to visit a class and probably even try it out for free. (At least they should.) That's really the only way to tell if you're going to like the class or not.

sounds good dean,is it ok to do all the ab exercises together and is 3 times a week better then 4?i like ab definition so thats why i was doing them 4 times a week.
also does it sound ok to do one day neck and lower,the next mid back and then the same throughout the week having a rest day on sun?
i would do them all on thwe same day but like you said it takes a long long time!!!!!!!as i just mentioned too i dont know how much i should do the abs or when to move on to the incline sit ups or swiss ball etc.maybe not yet until im fully recovered as they sound very advanced,im just frustrated as i miss training in the gym but i have a tendancy to overdo things due to my compettitive nature on the sports/workout fronts(eek im painting myself in a really bad light here!!!!!!!!!)so im asking your opinion on the most effective way to do these exercises as some people say you can overtrain abs!!!!!!
well thanks again dean
honestly you are a genius and im ever greatful,thanks to you im sure i will achieve my goals
X

sounds good dean,is it ok to do all the ab exercises together and is 3 times a week better then 4?i like ab definition so thats why i was doing them 4 times a week.
also does it sound ok to do one day neck and lower,the next mid back and then the same throughout the week having a rest day on sun?
i would do them all on thwe same day but like you said it takes a long long time!!!!!!!as i just mentioned too i dont know how much i should do the abs or when to move on to the incline sit ups or swiss ball etc.maybe not yet until im fully recovered as they sound very advanced,im just frustrated as i miss training in the gym but i have a tendancy to overdo things due to my compettitive nature on the sports/workout fronts(eek im painting myself in a really bad light here!!!!!!!!!)so im asking your opinion on the most effective way to do these exercises as some people say you can overtrain abs!!!!!!
well thanks again dean
honestly you are a genius and im ever greatful,thanks to you im sure i will achieve my goals
X

decided to take your advice and do the strengthening only once a day,is that the same for neck and mid back?also if i combine all 3 areas of the strengthening exercises on the same day is it ok to do them 4 times a week instead of 3?and in regard to the abs is it best to do all the exercises at once for definition or do different ones on strengthening days?
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It's really hard to tell someone else how often to exercise because everyone has different goals and ideas about what they want to achieve. One person just wants to rebuild their back, while another might want to go way beyond that and become a serious athlete. One person wants really big muscles, while another wants a long lean look.

What I've tried to do in the books is to limit my advice only to the bare essentials necessary to rebuild your back, neck or joints without limiting you in your personal goals or aspirations. In other words, there's a lot of room for modification and experimentation... and with that, of course, comes a lot of room for questions.

The good news is ... as long as you are doing the individual exercises correctly ... there is almost no chance that you're going to hurt yourself. After all, there are people who work physically demanding jobs (like construction workers) that have to exercise all day long ... 5 to 6 days a week and it doesn't seem to hurt them any.

So having said all that ... and the reason I said all that ... was that I want you to understand that you have a lot of freedom in designing your routine to fit your needs, your goals and your time schedule. You don't have to worry about doing something wrong and messing up your progress.

Now to the specific question that you have about strengthening ... and this applies to abs or neck muscles or whatever ... most people find that the most efficient way to increase strength is to work really hard one day and then to rest completely the next day... which works out to a 3-day a week program.

That doesn't mean you can't try a 4-day split routine or some other variation, it's just a general guideline. If you're trying to go for definition and aren't concerned with strength or size, then you can exercise every day if you want to.

Long distance runners usually run every day and they are known for their stamina and long, lean, well-defined muscles. It's all a matter of personal choice. (I personally think they over-do-it, but that's their business, not mine.)

I hope this is answering your questions in a way that is useful. I'm trying not to tell you EXACTLY what to do, because that would only limit you from experimenting and learning on your own. Only you can decide what you want to achieve.

So a quick summary:
1. Stretch and mobilize every day.
2. Strengthen 3 times a week (with rest in between)

Thanks dean...very sweet of you for listening!!!!Yes i do want to become serious at training so i guess thats why all the bizarre questions!!!!!!!!!!!
I didnt want to overdo it either but your advice is very helpful,i think i should only do strengthening once a day though since twice was a tad much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ever greatful
El
X

Hey Dean,just another question about neck and mid back strenghthening,i know you dont wanna tell me exactly what to do but in general its only necessary to do these once again too is that correct?especially the neck ones,those seem easier than the other strenghthening ones in terms of what you actually do so i was thinking is it still just once a day?
Thats it this time he he
Thanks so much
el
X

Me again!!!!!!!!
im getting agitated that the knot in my left side of my mid back is taking a long time to go,is this normal?i might start the strenghthening exercises for the arms and mid back as ive been doing just the strtches for them for months now.
Also i still have a pain just at the top of my lower left back,i tore this once,will this eventually go?im doing all the stretches as ive said but these two areas are taking a long long time,just a bit fed up.
Does a rest day mean to not do the stretches either?i didnt know whether it meant a total rest or just a rest from strenghthening,hope everyone is well
thank you
el
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el wrote:Me again!!!!!!!!
im getting agitated that the knot in my left side of my mid back is taking a long time to go,is this normal?

I had that too like 10 years. It might not go anywhere, even if yout train or stretch very hard, untill your pelvis is balanced as correction of ilium upslip. Meaning if that is the cause. usually it is.

When the cause is corrected the symptoms are gone right away.

el wrote:i might start the strenghthening exercises for the arms and mid back as ive been doing just the strtches for them for months now.
Also i still have a pain just at the top of my lower left back,i tore this once,will this eventually go?im doing all the stretches as ive said but these two areas are taking a long long time,just a bit fed up.

Sounds like you have ilium upslip as sacroiliac joint subluxation. What kind of diagnoses you have got from your pelvis symmetry or limb lengths? How about scoliosis?

Pain in left mid back tells about left ilium uplift but pain in left low back tells about right ilium uplift. Sure you can have them both uplifted or there is something else too like twisted sacrum...

There is one other model in Sweden who is telling her story about same symptoms. Her name is Joanna Holmgren. Sorry, but the story is written in swedish, but her story tells about years of searching help, wrong diagnoses, doctors (and therapeutists) with no clue about the subject, etc.
You can find her page using google with words: Joanna Holmgren sacroiliac

If you write to her I'm sure she could give some advice in english. You can contact her using the link "skriv" on that page.

That is very common problem with us patients causing problems to millions of people. But only very few experts understand about it in the whole world. Sad.